NEW YORK -- An emaciated 60-foot finback whale that washed up on a coastal community devastated by Superstorm Sandy has died, marine officials said Thursday.

The whale was found beached Wednesday in Breezy Point, Queens, where 126 homes burned down and more than 2,000 were damaged during the Oct. 29 storm. It was carried out at high tide but washed ashore another time on Thursday, and marine officials said they found it dead, according to media reports.

“Biologists have confirmed that the whale has died,” Mendy Garron, a marine mammal rescue specialist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told Reuters. “Plans are currently being developed for necropsy and disposal of the carcass."

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PhotoBlog: Finback whale beached at Breezy Point

Finback whales are an endangered species. They are second in size only to the blue whale, and can reach up to 70 feet in length and weigh up to 70 tons. The whales migrate to equatorial waters in the fall and during winter, they mostly fast, surviving on their fat reserves. Winter is also when they mate, and calves are born one year later, according to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

It is one of the fastest large whales and can stay underwater for up to 50 minutes on one breath.

Tim Dufficy, 26, a member of the Point Breeze Volunteer Fire Department, said the firehouse was contacted by security in the private cooperative about the animal. He and a few other volunteers took some new equipment, such as a portable pump and a special hose, that they'd gotten in the aftermath of the storm to keep water flowing on the whale during low tide since it was mostly out of the water.

"Everyone was hoping," he told NBC News. "But ... we knew the prospects were grim."

The whale did respond to the firefighters efforts, opening its eyes and moving its tails and side fins, he said. The fire crew eventually left the animal in the care of marine biologists. When Dufficy went to check back on the whale on Thursday, it had drifted seven blocks down the beach.

Rob DiGiovanni, executive director of the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation told NBCNewYork.com on Wednesday that the whale was “severely emaciated” and that the outcome did not look good.

Calls placed Thursday seeking comment to the foundation and NOAA were not immediately returned.

The whale was found on the bay side of the community, which is tucked in by the Atlantic Ocean and Jamaica Bay. With most homes rendered uninhabitable by the storm, many residents have had to move away and make daily trips to continue repairs.

Sharks, dolphins and a large sea turtle have also turned up on the beaches of Breezy Point, which was founded more than a century ago by Irish immigrants. It's not clear how many survived, said Dufficy, though he knew the sea turtle was alive when marine officials took it away.

A whale also beached itself on the community's Atlantic coast around the summer of 1960, said Point Breeze Fire Chief Marty Ingram.

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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A paraplegic man, who says he was stranded in the New Mexico desert without his wheelchair, dragged himself about four miles down a dirt road over three days before a motorist stopped to help him.

Tattered and dirty, Ricky Gilmore's blue jeans tell part of the story. His body tells the rest -- the skin on his left leg and buttocks is shredded, his wrist is sprained and his kidneys are in bad shape from going without food and water.

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"Ah man, I'm just a big mess. I ache and I'm just in the first stages of healing," he told The Associated Press on Tuesday from his hospital bed at the Northern Navajo Medical Center in Shiprock, N.M.

Gilmore, 49, is being treated for acute kidney failure from dehydration, a sprained wrist and a blood infection. He spent two days in intensive care and it could be at least another week before he can go home.

The Farmington Daily Times first reported Gilmore's story. The newspaper reported that Gilmore filed a report with the Shiprock Police Department. No officials at the department were immediately available to confirm details of the report.

Found on side of the road
Gilmore was found along a seldom traveled road on the Navajo Nation about 10 miles from his home in Newcomb, which is on the eastern side of the reservation.

Gilmore said he was dropped in the desert by a couple in a white truck who he met while he was hitchhiking on Oct. 16. He had invited them to his home for steaks and they later went for what Gilmore thought was going to be a joyride.

When he declined to share his alcohol with them, Gilmore said the man grabbed him by his feet and threw him out of the truck while parked along the desolate road.

“I did not want to fight back,” he told the Daily Times. “If I did fight back all hell would come loose. ... I know gangsters like that, they just that start clubbing away."

It was early evening and Gilmore had nothing -- no wheelchair, no food, no water, no coat -- to help him endure the flat desert scrubland.

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He said he spent the first night under a bush. But with the sunrise, survival mode kicked in.

Gilmore said he attempted to flag down at least two passing cars as he dragged himself along the road, but they only honked and kept going.

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Body temperature plummets
After spending a second night at the side of the road, Gilmore said he woke up sore and thirsty and did not want to move, but continued onward anyway.

On the third afternoon, a man in a blue pickup truck stopped and called for help. Gilmore said doctors told him his body temperature was 94 when he was found. Normal body temperature is 98.6 degrees.

He told the AP that his plan for when he gets released from the hospital was simple: "Go home and pray, take inventory and just get a good night sleep in my own bed and heal."

Read more on this story on NBC's Albuquerque affiliate KOBTV.com

Gilmore told the Daily Times that he had been hitchhiking for 19 years, ever since he lost the use of his legs in a motorcycle accident on his 30th birthday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Jamal Tarhuni is now home, but the questions surrounding his unexplained month-long exile in North Africa remain unanswered. 

Tarhuni, a 55-year-old Libyan-American businessman, was reunited with his wife and four children in Portland, Ore., on Tuesday, ending an ordeal in which he was barred by the U.S. from flying home and questioned at length by the FBI. 

It is unclear why the agency waylaid Tarhuni, and it is unclear whether he faces more scrutiny. He and his attorney presume he is on the U.S. government’s “no-fly” list — meaning he would be barred from boarding any domestic or international flight that enters U.S. airspace. The FBI and State Department have refused comment on his case, citing privacy and security, and both agencies consistently decline to confirm or deny whether specific names are on the list.

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The ordeal faced by Tarhuni and his fellow Oregonian Libyan-American, Mustafa Elogbi, 60, who remains stuck in Tunisia for another week at least, is more common for U.S. citizens than it seems — particularly for those who are Muslim or of Arab descent, said Gadeir Abbas, an attorney with the Council on American Islamic Relations who has been involved in Tarhuni’s case and many other apparent “no-fly” cases.

Previous coverage from msnbc.com

• American aid worker: US bars my return
• What gives? Another American caught in no-fly limbo
• No-fly Americans split up to fly home
• Bittersweet homecoming for Libyan-American caught in no-fly limbo

“There is a constant stream of despicable tales,” said Abbas. “It’s more common that we hear from people and they don’t want to go public. When your own government tells you you’re too dangerous to fly, there’s a palpable fear of retaliation. And it’s really an expectation that people on the no-fly list have that something more onerous is coming down the road.” 

Tarhuni decided when he was stuck in Tunis that he would publicly challenge the FBI actions — which he believes were unconstitutional and unjustifiable. He said Tuesday that he intends to continue to seek publicity and generate discussion of the “no fly” issue. 

There are two ongoing legal cases that challenge the government's authority to use the no-fly list, said Abbas. 

"These (cases) are going to take years, and in the meantime, these are human tragedies," he added. 

In the accompanying video, shot on Tuesday at their home in Tigard, Ore., just outside Portland, Tarhuni, his wife, Nariman Samed, and daughter Lina discuss the personal impact the incident had on the family, their uncertainty about the future and how they intend to move forward.

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 PORTLAND, Ore. — Family, friends and supporters celebrated the homecoming Tuesday of Jamal Tarhuni, a Libyan-American businessman whose return to the U.S. from North Africa was delayed by a month after he was detained for questioning by the FBI.

A burst of applause and cheering went up as Tarhuni emerged into the waiting area at Portland International Airport after clearing the last bureaucratic hurdle of his trip – a two-hour wait to clear customs. His youngest son, 10-year-old Rasheed, armed with helium balloons, stood at the front of a welcome line of men.

The tone of the homecoming quickly became serious again, as Tarhuni reassured others about the status of another member of the Libyan-American community – Mustafa Elogbi, 60, who remains in Tunisia after being barred at the last minute from joining Tarhuni and their attorney, Tom Nelson, on the flight home.

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Tarhuni, 55, left for Libya in October to deliver medical supplies to hospitals and refugee camps, but he said that when he tried to return on Jan. 17, he was denied boarding and directed to the U.S. Embassy in Tunis, where he was questioned extensively by FBI agents.

At the Portland airport, he addressed the gathered press with a message to the FBI:

"We value your work when you stop criminals," Tarhuni said. "We do not value your work when you do not do your homework and stop innocent people."

He called his ordeal a shock and said he was particularly disappointed in the U.S. Embassy.

"I was not able to get straight answers or help you would expect from your embassy abroad," he said. "I was not even able to get basic information on who made the decision to stop me from coming home."

Tuesday’s reunion with his wife, Nariman Samed, and four children ended a month of uncertainty for Tarhuni, a naturalized American citizen, but it did nothing to clarify why he was held or whether he faces further questioning. He does not know whether he is on the government’s secret no-fly list, which would prevent him from flying back to his native Libya or in U.S. airspace.

The uncertainty around Elogbi remains, although he has booked a flight home from Tunis on Sunday.

American aid worker: U.S. bars my return

What gives? Another American caught in no-fly limbo

No-fly Americans split up to fly home

"I’m really happy that Jamal Tarhuni is coming home, but I’m really ready for my dad to come home," said Elogbi’s daughter, Allaa, 20, fighting back tears. "(This return) does give me hope that within a week my dad will be here. … But so far you don’t know if you can trust them or not, you know? There is no reason my dad should not be home today. There is no reason he shouldn’t have been home last month."

The crowd of about 40 people on hand to greet Tarhuni was a mixture of family and friends from Muslim and interfaith communities.

"What brings me out is injustice, not allowing someone to come home because they are Muslim or have an Arabic name, or a foreign-sounding name – the nemesis du jour," said Pam Allee, a Portland resident who came to show support but does not know the families.

Karen Redington, a Christian who said she has worked with Tarhuni on interfaith events, carried an American flag and a sign that read: "I’m sorry."

"I am so sorry that this would happen to anyone, let alone somebody who is one of the most gentle, humble, caring men, who has taken the time to go back to his country of origin to bring millions and millions of dollars of humanitarian aid through Medical Teams International," she said. "I am so sorry. This does not represent this community; this does not represent this country."

No one was more relieved at Tarhuni’s return than Rasheed, who was looking forward to spending some quality time with his dad after an absence of four months.

"He missed my birthday, so he said we’re going to have a cake and we’re going to go out and we’re going to invite my friends, maybe go to Evergreen waterpark. Or we’re going to take trip to Disneyland," he said.

Going forward, he said, he’s going to keep his eye on his dad:

"I’m going to hug him so much and never let him go back anywhere else, and tell him, ‘If you’re going somewhere, the whole family comes with you.’"

 

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